


Of Embarrassing High Schoolers and Revelations

by viscrael



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Hispanic Karkat, Homosexuality, Human, Humanstuck, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Male Homosexuality, awkward high schoolers yayyyy, dave is such a dorky baby i love it, karkat is kawaii, they swear a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-28 21:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viscrael/pseuds/viscrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat Vantas was 14 years old when he realized he was gay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Embarrassing High Schoolers and Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> dorky davekat for the soul uwu

Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas first met in kindergarten.

They shared the same teacher and a few of the same friends. They went to a couple of parties together because the entire class had been invited, and they sat at the same table at lunch every now and then.

The two boys got along relatively well up until third grade, where Dave started hanging out with Karkat's best friend, Terezi Pyrope, and Karkat realized he wasn’t very appreciative of that. Being nine years old and jealous, he didn’t know what else to do besides pout and argue with the blonde as much as possible; everything he said angered Karkat more, and the thought of Terezi choosing him instead made his fists clench involuntarily. Quite a few times the teacher had to separate the two because Karkat would let his temper get the best of him.

By sixth grade, the two had grown up a bit more. They still didn’t really get along, but they’d matured enough to not pick fights every chance they could get. Dave, much to Karkat’s horror, hit a growth spurt and shot up to a 5’6 by age twelve, where Karkat didn’t get past 5’2 until eighth grade—and even then, he was still quite a bit shorter than Dave.

Karkat had always been considered chubby, with dark skin, black hair, and a Hispanic heritage. He was often picked on because of his size and ethnicity, and his inability to keep his mouth shut often aided this. Dave had strikingly blonde hair, with a lean body and pale skin, and never took off these stupid pair of round shades that Karkat heard his best friend gave him. Everything he did pissed the dark-haired boy off more, and he had no idea why—something about that Strider kid just made him want to rip his hair out.

Yet as he got older, he started to recognize some odd feelings towards him; he liked being around him, he took pleasure in arguing with him, butterflies erupted at the very thought of seeing him. While this went on, Terezi and Karkat started dating, but he wasn’t as happy as he should’ve been. He’d had a crush on her since he was eight years old; why wasn’t he happy?

Karkat Vantas was 14 years old when he realized he was gay.

Of course, this news wasn’t some that he handled all that amazingly. Growing up in a community full of people who gagged at the very _thought_ of homosexuality sort of trained you to think like that. And although he’d never been biased against homosexuals, realizing he was one himself was a shock. As well as this, it was utterly terrifying. What if someone found out? People would only mess with him more, and that was the last thing he wanted.

The only person he told was Terezi, half because she was his best friend, and half because they’d been going out and he wanted a sufficient reason as to why he was breaking it off. She took it well, of course, because the redhead was an incredible friend and very understanding, even though she did tease him for a while.

Dave Strider, likewise, had known he was gay since age eight.

As a kid, he’d never really been attracted to girls. He found himself wanting to kiss his best friend, John Egbert, in third grade, and by the time he was in middle school, he didn’t have any doubts about his sexuality. When he was in eighth grade, he dated his close friend, Jade Harley, for a couple of weeks, before realizing he had no desire to do anything romantic with her. In all honesty, the idea of kissing any girl bothered him.

 

And Dave Strider was 15 years old when he realized he had a crush on Karkat Vantas.

* * *

The bell rang, signaling it was time for everyone to get the fuck out of school. Karkat would normally be making a beeline for the bus in order to avoid people and get home as soon as physically possible, but today he couldn’t. He was staying after school to help with the spring play; somehow, Kanaya had roped him into it. When he thought about it later, he realized he really _could_ have just said no, but her persistence and slight guilt tripping worked on him—well, effectively enough for him to agree to it, at least. He saw through her act, of course, it’s just that he had a hard time getting past that point.

As he packed up his things, taking his sweet time since he was in no rush, a boy passing him knocked a couple of books off his desk like it was a fucking Disney channel movie. “Fag,” he hissed. Karkat’s blood boiled, and for a moment fear captured him before he realized there was no way the kid knew. It was just a dumb insult everyone used. 

“Real fucking original,” he grumbled, glaring at the back of that kid’s head. He leaned down to pick the binder off the ground and rolled his eyes at the kids still shuffling out the door. The teacher disappeared into her work, getting her things together and occasionally barking at a few of the lingering teenagers.

“Bye, Mrs. A,” Karkat called behind him as he headed towards the drama room, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Mrs. A waved back at him with a smile, giving a faint “See you later, Karkat!” She was one of the few teachers that didn’t totally piss him off, so he was generally polite to her…well, as polite as he ever was.

Whilst walking down the hallway, a familiar voice called out behind him, “Vantas!”

He rolled his eyes, not stopping for the boy to catch up. “Fuck off.”

“Heh, no need for hostility, man,” Dave Strider said, slowing down beside him, his paces in step with the dark haired boy’s. Karkat said nothing. They walked in silence for a moment.

Finally, he sighed. “What the hell do you want, anyways, douche muffin?”

Dave grinned slightly, raising an eyebrow behind his shades as if to ask _douche muffin?_ “Ta’ talk to you, of course. What else would a cool kid like me want?”

“That’s not exactly the word I would use.”

“Oh?” he used his hands in wild gestures as he continued to speak. “Well, there’s a variety of other words you could choice. Astonishing, handsome, hilarious, intelligent—“

 “The biggest asshole on earth.”

He grinned, turning up only a side of his lips in an amused way. “That too, but, hey, whose judging?”

He concealed a grin of his own. To be honest, he’d missed bantering with him like this. See, the thing was, he didn’t _actually_ hate the kid—sure, Dave was obnoxious and arrogant and frustrating and (as previously mentioned) the biggest asshole on earth, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate him. Something just always held him back…Maybe it was the fact that he’d seen him when he wasn’t acting stoic and cool, or maybe it was because Terezi was still so fond of him, and for her to like him that much for that long, must have meant he wasn’t entirely bad. You’d probably just have to peal back a few layers, Karkat thought. Not that he wanted to.

But one of the many annoying things about Dave Strider was that he was hot. Like, _really_ hot. And he _knew_ he was, so he strutted around like he was the coolest fucking thing since sliced bread, and pretty much everybody agreed with him on that. Girls swooned and gossiped about him; boys were glued to him in an effort to win his friendship. The only odd thing was that he’d never heard of him dating, except for, like, once during middle school or something, and Karkat heard rumors about his sexuality. Of course, since he was as attractive as he was, this led to some, uh, odd thoughts on Karkat’s end. Maybe a few fantasies here and there, but nothing that really bothered the Hispanic boy that much. He didn’t think about it. The blonde was straight and a prick and bugged the hell out of the other boy. Nothing more. Probably.

“Yo,” Dave snapped his fingers in front of his face, “earth to Kitkat.”

“What?” he snapped, hostile out of habit.

“Dude, you were so fucking out of it for a minute there.” He hiked his backpack up on his shoulder, walking sideways to see his face. The two of them had already passed the drama room, but neither were complaining (Karkat didn’t really want to go anyway. This was a better alternative). “Space Cadet KK Rider can’t even be located. Shit’s goin’ down in the space shuttle; everyone’s frantic up there.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, whatever, I get it, stop spouting useless bullshit.”

He laughed. “Can’t stop something that wasn’t happening. That wasn’t bullshit, it was important—gotta keep up with current events, right? You could’ve gotten lost out there, man, then what would I do?”

It was a stupid comment, one that meant nothing, but his heart thudded a bit quicker in his chest, and his cheeks heated up lightly. He looked away so the other couldn’t see the stupid blush that graced his cheeks. He didn’t say anything.

Silence engulfed the two for a moment, and when he looked over, his pale, freckled cheeks were tinted red as well. Freckles were a big turn on for Karkat, and he could never tell if it just so happened that Dave had them, or if that was turn on _because_ Dave had them. Either way, he stared without meaning to, wondering what it would be like to kiss him.

His lips were pink and thin, and they looked soft but chapped. He wondered what would even really happen if he just leaned over a little bit. He would turn towards Dave, set a hand on his shoulder, and lean up to kiss him. Maybe Dave would kiss back, a hand going to Karkat’s cheek while the other went to his waist, and he’d lean down a bit to make it easier for the both of them and flutter his eyes closed.

 

But what if Dave was straight? Would he hold it against Karkat? Would he tell everyone; would he be disgusted? Would he shove him away and reject him in that snarky tone Karkat knew so well? What if he called him a fag? What if he never talked to him again? What if what if what if what if. What if’s plagued Karkat’s mind. He didn’t move to kiss Dave.

* * *

 

“Hey, uh,” Dave scratched the back of his neck, seeming unlike himself. “I was talking with a few of my friends and…they, uh, were wondering what your sexuality is.” He tripped over his own feet once or twice as he spoke. Moments like these made Karkat think he wasn’t as entirely heterosexual as he seemed.

But Karkat’s heart stopped. What would he answer with? If Dave was into boys, there was a chance of that previous fantasy of becoming real…but if he wasn’t and Karkat told the truth, there was the risk of everyone else finding out, not to mention the judgment he might face from Dave himself... “Uh…”

“I mean, like,” Dave stumbled over his words as well as his feet, trying to explain quickly, “you don’t have to tell me or anything, like, it’s not a big deal, trust me. I—they were just wondering and whatever.”

“Tell them to stay out of other people’s fucking business,” he snapped, sounding harsher than he’d intended, but distraught with everything else. Dave’s face didn’t change much, but then again, it never really did.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll tell them that.”

There was another awkward silence.

“What—“ the Hispanic boy cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable for asking but too curious not to, “what’s yours then? Sexuality, I mean.”

Dave grinned a little bit. “I’m gay.”

“Wait, what? Seriously?”

He frowned, seeming a little offended. “Yeah. I mean, look, I know I’m not, like, the ‘stereotypical’ gay guy, but who gives a shit, right?” He glanced at the other. “Does that bother you?”

“What? No,” Vantas scrambled to answer, “no, I mean—no. It doesn’t bother me. I mean. I’m. I’m gay too, so, no, it doesn’t bother me.”

“Oh.” He swore he saw Dave grin. “Great.”

“Great?”

“Well, that sort of brings up the other thing of, like—I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime.”

“You mean…as in, on a date?” He felt stupid for asking.

Dave nodded. “Yeah. So what do you say?”

Karkat thought for a moment, turning away. It was no-brainer “yes,” but he still hesitated. “When?”

“I was thinkin’ this Saturday? You can pick where we go.” He pulled down his shades so the boy could see him wink. He blushed furiously; Dave was _really_ hot. And, oh god, this was actually going on, a guy like him had actually just asked him out. So he nodded, requesting they go to a movie, and Dave laughed, agreeing. He scribbled down his number on the darker boy’s hand. Karkat didn’t bother telling him that he already had his number, because his hands were soft and the skin where they touched tingled in a good way and it was actually really cute, the way he seemed to be containing excitement and wanted to do cliché things like that.

They hung around after that, and Dave flirted with him much more openly, although he _was_ careful not to cross any boundaries might have been up. When his brother texted him, saying he needed to get home to help clean up (some important producer lady was coming by soon to talk to them about his brother’s website and whatever), the blonde leaned down slightly and left a quick peck on Karkat’s cheek. It happened so fast that the other wasn’t even completely sure it had happened.

“See ya, Vantas,” Dave called, grinning over his shoulder as he headed towards the school’s parking lot.

Karkat was so stunned he forgot to reply with something sarcastic.

**Author's Note:**

> mayb ill continue this one day  
> u'll nevr know


End file.
